Eighth Hour

A wealthy group of semi-retired older European movie and TV personalities has purchased a Caribbean cruise on a Dinner Key Yacht Charters sailboat. Their objective is to explore and enjoy that portion of the New World where treasure ships sailed in centuries past, on their way to load plundered gold, silver, and precious gems meant for the coffers of European monarchs.

In those times, it was an area rife with conflict between European nations vying for plunder and the attacks of pirates trying to steal that plunder. In this story, a similar fate befalls the celebrity cruise on a boat named Panacea, whose guests carry a more modern type of treasure.

The guests on this cruise paid extra to bring their own food and beverages aboard, as well as their own servants, who replaced most of the charter company's normal ship's complement. While perfectly suited to serving the needs of their employers on land, their lack of sea-going knowledge places the crew and guests in jeopardy, requiring a swift response by the charter company's security team to rescue them.

It takes two full days of intervention to restore the boat to normal operation and requires an extensive amount of investigation and aggressive action to accomplish the task.